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The Heavenly Kingdom
Mythos In the beginning of time the Divine Being and the Great Wyrm ruled the universe together. The two guided humanity, and humanity flourished. On what is known as the Day of The Departure, it was time for the Divine Being to begin their grand journey. Before leaving humanity the Divine Being appointed a Holy King to rule in their absence and prepare the land for their return, side by side with the Dragon God. However, the Great Wyrm deemed humanity unworthy of this responsibility and sought to rule for themself. And so, the Great Wyrm threatened to consume the world if the Holy King did not relinquish the authority they were given and bow to them. In their infinite wisdom, the Holy King convinced the Great Wyrm to let humanity prove itself worthy in a test. The Great Wyrm, incapable of resisting a game of wits, agreed and gave the Holy King the first Riddle of the Dragon. A multifaceted cryptic scripture that when deciphered reveals a number of excrutiating tasks for the people of the Holy King. If a hundred years had passed before the Riddle was solved, the Great Wyrm would rise again, and consume a part of the universe. Solving the Riddle would only grant the people a year of respite, before the Great Wyrm delivers a new Riddle to be solved within a hundred years. And so, to save humanity from the wrath of the Great Wyrm, the Heavenly Kingdom frantically searches for secrets and answers to solve the Riddle and complete the tasks in time. The 6th Riddle of the Dragon God was never solved, and as punishment the Great Wyrm consumed the minds of psionics during what is known as the Scream. Today marks the day of the 99th year of the 12th Riddle of the Dragon God, the Riddle is not yet fully solved and the Holy King is getting desperate... Grodhil Atmosphere: Breathable mix Temperature: Temperate Biosphere: Human-miscible Population: Several million inhabitants Tech Level: TL4 Tags: Feral World, Perimiter Agency Grodhil is the heart of the Heavenly Kingdom, a lush planet overseen by the Holy King and their Hallowed Court from the holy city of Grodwel. It was once known for its sophisticated culture and proud people, but 9 centuries and 9 Riddles took a heavy toll on Grodhil. The last 10 years of every century is either filled with frantic work on impossible projects, or agonizing dread that what has been done is not enough. Even though a task may be complete, many keep working on it out of fear or habit. * The 8th Riddle involved constructing a “sea of sadness” which meant collecting tears from the entire population of Grodhil for 50 years to fill a crystal mega-sphere. * In the 96th year of the 4th Riddle, one segment of the Riddle which was previously thought to be clear turned out to be horribly misunderstood. The palace of glass that had been under construction for 17 years (an endeavor that nearly bankrupted the Heavenly Kingdom) had to be abandoned to hastily construct the enormous sand castle that the Riddle actually required. * In the 9th Riddle, a paragraph instructed the people of the Holy King to “break the bones of the earth with sticks and stones”. As such, every graveyard on Grodhil had to be dug up for every family to manually crush the bones of their ancestors, a tradition that still lives on today. Organization Grodhil is ruled by the Holy King and his Hallowed Court, an ensemble of viziers, clerics, generals, and marshals. The Hallowed Court takes care of all governmental duties and the protection of the Holy family, especially princess Avital, the successor to the throne. However, their most important duties concern the Riddle. The council of Heavenly Insight spends their days deciphering the Riddle together with the Holy King. Countless court officials work tirelessly to organize and enforce the tasks of the Riddle. Hidden away in the depths of castle Grodwel is the Dragon Egg, the last offspring of the Great Wyrm. Every 100 years the royal interpreter recieves the Riddle from the egg telepathically, and in between they spend their days in a trance, listening for potential messages from the Great Wyrm. A separate but equally important part of the Hallowed Court is the Angelic Order, a team of elite warriors with the sole purpose of hunting down any signs of maltech, inside or outside the borders of the Heavenly Kingdom: For such evil is only found among the likes of Cultists secretly worshipping Great Wyrm. While the Holy King is the supreme leader of the Heavenly Kingdom, not too many restrictions are put on the king's vassals outside of Grodhil. As such, the Virtuous Bank, the Church of the Missing Divine, the Divine Oversight organization, and the Army of the Faithful have fairly free reign. After all, the Holy King and their Hallowed Court are busy with the most important of tasks, preventing the destruction of the universe by the fangs of the Great Wyrm.